The invention relates to an apparatus for foil-capping bottles, especially with a patch of foil having a point, the apparatus having a turntable containing a plurality of controlled bottle turning devices disposed on its circumference, having at least one labeling station which transfers the foil patches (and other labels if any) onto the bottles which the turntable is carrying past the labeling station and which are turned to a particular rotational position, having elements disposed along the bottle transport path determined by the turntable, which elements press down the foil patches (labels) transferred onto the bottles, and having a transfer wheel which succeeds the turntable and has receptacles for the bottles, and which has a means for gripping the bottles and a system for pressing down the ends of the foil which project above the tops of the bottles.
In known apparatus of this or a similar kind for the capping of bottles with a rectangular patch of foil, the bottles provided by the labeling station with a rectangular patch of foil with one corner pointing downwardly are brought to such a rotational position that, when the bottles enter the transfer wheel, the foil patches are situated with their points on the back of the bottle with reference to the transport direction. The bottles are held in this rotational position by the gripping means of the transfer wheel until the bottles have moved past a means stationarily disposed above the bottle receptacle in the transfer wheel and turning down the upstanding end of the foil patch. When the gripping means in the form of cam-controlled clamps are released, the bottle is set in rotation by rolling against an outer, fixed guide as it is moved along by the transfer wheel. To facilitate this rotation of the bottles, the bottle is urged against freely rotatable rollers in each receptacle in the transfer wheel. As the bottle continues to move along while rotating in this manner it comes within reach of rotating brushes which press down the turned-down end of the patch as well as the patch area adjacent the head, but also all the rest of the foil, against the bottle. After the treatment by the brushes, the bottles come in reach of an arcuate smoothing piece acting on the top end of the bottle. When this multi-step treatment of the upstanding end of the patch has been completed, it is necessary to stop the bottle from rotating by again actuating the gripping means, so that the bottles can be passed as gently and smoothly as possible through the exit onto a conveyor belt that carries them away.
In an apparatus of this sort, since the bottle that enters the transfer wheel is set in rotation by friction with the outer guide, the label, whose glue has not yet set, is subjected to considerable distress, especially in the acceleration and stopping of the bottle (German Auslegeschrift No. 2,734,932).